Library

2017 News

Nov 28, 2017

Call for Fermi Cycle-11 Guest Investigator Proposals

The call for Fermi Cycle-11 Guest Investigator proposals has been officially issued by NASA Headquarters. Proposals are due on February 23, 2018 at 16:30 EST. Please refer to additional information provided on the Proposals section of this web site.

Oct 16, 2017

Fermi's GBM Spots Merging Neutron Stars

At 12:41 UT on August 17, 2017, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on board NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope automatically triggered on a gamma-ray burst and classified it correctly, just as it does about 240 times per year. This particular trigger, however, had a unique friend: a near-simultaneous gravitational-wave detection from the LIGO-Virgo global network of interferometers.+ Read More

Sep 05, 2017

'Extreme' Telescopes Find the Second-fastest-spinning Pulsar

By following up on mysterious high-energy sources mapped out by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, the Netherlands-based Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope has identified a pulsar spinning at more than 42,000 revolutions per minute, making it the second-fastest known.+ Read More

Jul 18, 2017

Gamma-ray Telescopes Reveal a High-energy Trap in Our Galaxy's Center

A combined analysis of data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.), a ground-based observatory in Namibia, suggests the center of our Milky Way contains a "trap" that concentrates some of the highest-energy cosmic rays, among the fastest particles in the galaxy.+ Read More

May 31, 2017

Stage-I Selection Complete for Cycle-10 GI Program

The stage-I selection process for the Fermi Cycle-10 Guest Investigator program has been completed. There were a total of 43 new programs selected for stage I out of 183 proposals submitted. A list of the selected programs, including the PIs, titles and abstracts is available on the FSSC web site.

Apr 24, 2017

NASA's Fermi Catches Gamma-ray Flashes from Tropical Storms

About a thousand times a day, thunderstorms fire off fleeting bursts of some of the highest-energy light naturally found on Earth. These events, called terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs), last less than a millisecond and produce gamma rays with tens of millions of times the energy of visible light.+ Read More

Feb 21, 2017

NASA's Fermi Finds Possible Dark Matter Ties in Andromeda Galaxy

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has found a signal at the center of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy that could indicate the presence of the mysterious stuff known as dark matter. The gamma-ray signal is similar to one seen by Fermi at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy.+ Read More

Feb 08, 2017

GBM Response Generator Software

The Fermi GBM team has provided a portable version of their response matrix generation software and associated calibration files. Previously, this was available to the public only via an interactive web interface. The response file generator facilitates production of response files for a GBM triggered event or for an arbitrary source location at an arbitrary time for each of the GBM detectors. The intent is to better facilitate studies such as candidate, non-triggered GRBs or solar flares, TGFs and searches for electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational waves. To obtain the software please visit the FSSC GBM data analysis web page.

Jan 30, 2017

NASA's Fermi Sees Gamma Rays from 'Hidden' Solar Flares

An international science team says NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has observed high-energy light from solar eruptions located on the far side of the sun, which should block direct light from these events. This apparent paradox is providing solar scientists with a unique tool for exploring how charged particles are accelerated to nearly the speed of light and move across the sun during solar flares.+ Read More

Jan 30, 2017

NASA's Fermi Discovers the Most Extreme Blazars Yet

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has identified the farthest gamma-ray blazars, a type of galaxy whose intense emissions are powered by supersized black holes. Light from the most distant object began its journey to us when the universe was 1.4 billion years old, or nearly 10 percent of its present age.+ Read More

Jan 06, 2017

Cycle-10 Proposal Due Date

Contrary to what you may have heard elsewhere, proposals to the Fermi Cycle-10 Guest Investigator Program are due by 16:30 EST February 24, 2017. Proposers should be aware of the several new developments which are detailed on our Proposals page and in the Fermi appendix to the 2016 ROSES NRA.